The RCAF is lowering the airfield at 5 Wing Goose Bay from category 7 to category 5. It's still not clear how this will affect civilian flights landing at Goose Bay Airport

The Royal Canadian Air Force will be lowering the 5 Wing Goose Bay Airfield from a category 7 to a category 5 after the Serco layoffs take effect.

In an email sent to The Labradorian, Major James Simiana, RCAF public affairs, said that fire response standards is one reason why the category would be lowered.

“From the perspective of the RCAF, within the new contract the Canadian Armed Forces category for this airfield will decrease from Cat 7 to Cat 5 as of April 1, 2014,” states the email. “This category is based on both the forward operating Location facility and structural fire response standards, which meets the RCAF's operational requirement. For civilian operations, those are determined by Transport Canada regulations.”

Information on what the different categories mean, and how it affects 5 Wing-Goose Bay, has been hard to come by. When asked for further details, Simiana referred The Labradorian to Transport Canada who deferred to National Defense.

Captain Dave Bowen, public affairs officer at 5 Wing Goose Bay, said that he could not provide any information until all details are finalized.

“I can say that currently no changes are planned until after April first, as stakeholder consultations are ongoing, no further details can be provided until these consultations are finalized,” said Bowen in an email.